The present invention is related to wireless power transfer systems. More particularly, the present invention is related to systems to charging to devices with a compensation component to the providers of such systems.
The number and type of portable electrical devices and electronic devices in use today is growing at a faster pace than ever. Many of these devices include batteries, in order for the device to be used without attachment to a power cord or wall socket. It is more and more common that rechargeable batteries are used so that the expense of battery replacement and the sometimes cumbersome task of opening these devices to replace the batteries are reduced. Thus, the devices must be recharged, which can be difficult to accomplish in a portable device, for example, when someone is traveling, and lacks the ability to plug-in a charger. Sometimes, although a charging cord could be run to the device, it still might be considered inconvenient to do so.
Some examples of such portable electronic devices include cellular telephones, tape recorders, compact disc players, computers, personal data assistants (PDA), hand-held video games, telemetry equipment, two-way radio, and wearable fabrics that have electronic wiring woven into to the fabric itself, such as coils formed in any arbitrary shape to facilitate woven wire arranged in the fabric, or pads with embedded conductors that can be attached to clothes.
Wireless power transfer has been used in applications such as the non-intrusive charging of pacemaker batteries, the charging of hybrid vehicle batteries, etc. In such applications, inductive coupling is used exclusively so that a current is induced from a power station to a load. In such systems, the power transfer is exclusively accomplished by means of coupling magnetic flux of the power station and the load.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,771 to Steigerwald et al. discloses a contactless power transfer system, wherein power is transferred from a stationary supply to a rotational load via the use of a rotary transformer. The coupling in this type of system is also inductive. Another arrangement is the use of a clamp-on link around a primary conductor that does not physically contact the conductor. The transfer of power is still via induction.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/170,034, filed Jun. 12, 2002, the instant inventor provided a wireless charger to recharge portable devices, eliminating the hurdle of trying to find an outlet and a cord to recharge such devices. Moreover, there are times when a wall connected outlet is not desirable for safety reasons, for example, to prevent electrical shock in a kitchen or bathroom.
However, the proliferation of such wireless charging device""s begs the question of how will this wireless charging be paid for?
One answer is to include a payment unit/mechanism as either an additional part of the charging system or as an add-on. A credit card reader or other form of payment mechanism can be placed and coupled to a charging device. Once payment is made, the mechanism enables the charge transfer from wireless charger to the xe2x80x9cto-be chargedxe2x80x9d device.
The registration of payment can be stored in the payment mechanism for later retrieval, or can be connected via wired or wireless to a payment center and/or the Internet and only periodically carry out the completion of the financial transaction.
An advantage of the present invention is that it facilitates the use of wearable electronics. For example, flexible materials (such as FR4), and flex circuits used in wearable electronics, so that, for example, one could charge a radio, cellphone, and/or computer (just to name a few of the many wearable items) by bringing the device in close proximity to the fabric, and be charged for receiving the service.